Combined package seal and fastener.



ATTORNEY PATENTED DEC. 3, 1907. F. J. LBRGH & R. M. KERR.

COMBINED PACKAGE SEAL AND FASTENER. APPLICATION FILED APR. 1. 1907.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK J. LERCH AND ROBERT M. KERR, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNORS TO MAPOTHER, KERR AND LERCH, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, A OOPARTNERSI-IIP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1907.

Application filed April 1. 1907. Serial No. 365,873.

and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Combined Package Seal and Fastener, of which the following is a specification;

This invention relates to means for sealing and securing the covers of boxes, pails and other like containers; and the objects of our improvement are, inexpensiveness to manufacture, facility and quickness of application to packages, betrayal of any attempt to open the package because the seal is easily and irreparably broken by tampering therewith, and security against accidental breakage of the seal.

-This seal and fastener is intended particularly for use upon candy-pails, wooden cases for bottled goods, and cases for other valuable goods.

These objects we attain by means of the device shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective View, Fig. 2 a sectional view on the line AB of Fig.8; Fig. 3, a sectional view of a modification on the line AB of Fig. 8 Fig. 1, a perspective view as applied to a box; Fig. 5, an edge view as applied to a pail and broken; Fig. 6 a sectional view on line CD of Fig. 8; Fig. 7, a sectional view of a modification on line C. D. of Fig. 8 Fig. 8 an edge view; and, Fig. 9, a plan view. of the blank from which the fastener is formed.

. The body 1 and the points 2 constitute the principal parts of the invention. The device is made preferably of a piece of flexible sheet metal, a blank, as shown in Fig. 9, be ing stamped out, and conical points formed on the serrated spear-shaped ends and bent at an angle, preferably a right-angle to the body-plate 1. The serrated edges of the ends may be bent in at an acute angle, as shown in section in Figs. 2 and 6, or parallel to each other,,forming a parallelogrammatic channel, as shown in Figs. 3 and 7. Barbs 3 are formed on the blank, and these barbs are left exposed on the seal and fastener, as shown in Fig. 1. It will be observed that A the barbed wings are partly severed from the plate 1 at the base. Thus constructed the points easily bend and break along the edge where the points are integral with plate 1, if the plate 1 should be prized up with any instrument in an attempt to withdraw points 2 from the wood of the case in order to open the box or other container sealed and fastened thereby. So long, however, as the body strip 1 is allowed to rest flat against the surface of the container, points 2 remain at the original angle relative therewith, and the tensile strength of the device is maintained, adapting it as a secure fastener. It is obvious that if the strip be broken from the point 2, an attempt to open the package may be suspected, and the inspector ,of the package is thereby directed to make investigation to see if the package has been rifled, etc.

The manner of using our seal and fastener will now be obvious. One of the points 2 is driven into the lid of the container at about the distance of half the length of the fastener from the edge of the container. The opposite end of the fastener is then pressed down, the turn may be made sharp by a blow with the hammer, the other point 2 is driven into the body of the container, and the seal and fastening is completed.

To open the package it is necessary simply to insert a screw-driver or other pointed in strument under body-strip 1 and prize upward, when the strip will break off, leaving the point in the wood. The strip may be pressed downward with the fingers and entirely severed from the other point and thrown away, leaving the package free from the strips and without projections. It goes without saying that barbs 3 hold point 2 very firmly in the material of the container, making it impossible to remove them in good order without cutting them out and thus defacing the body of the container so that they cannot be reinstated without liability to detection.

Having thus described my invention so that any one skilled in the art pertaining thereto may make and use it, I claim 1. A package seal and fastener, comprising a metal strip having its ends cut at an acute angle and forming approximately isosceles triangles with the middle portion of the base integral with said strip, said triangles being bent up sharply at the integral part of the base approximately at right-angles to said strip and having their sides serrated and to render them comparatively easily broken bent to form adjaoeillt channels. ofi, substantially as described.

2. A pac age sea and fastener, c0mprising a metal strip, approximately arrow- 5 shaped barbed points formed on the ends of said strip bent at approximately right-angles Witnesses: to the body of the strip, said points being ABRAHAM- KNOBEL, partly severed from said strip at their bases WVM. HITER MAOGILL. 

